Midnight Stroll
by gyuumajo
Summary: Everyone deals with the aftermath of THE big battle differently. [1st Vandread fic. Play nice & review...]


"Damnit!" A muffled curse broke the silence of the night. A rarity, considering the devices Parfet always manages to blow up but fix again & the ongoing chase of Dita & Hibiki. But this rarity came with a rather high price. They had just defeated the fleet & everyone was exhausted, hence the silence. The soft clicking of heels on hard ground stopped just as the owner of the pair of feet was about to go about minding her own business. She could never figure out what the hell is wrong with men but in the short time they had been exposed to their opposites, she had managed to tolerate them. After all, their survival _does_ require them to work together as a team. A loud crash was heard & she rushed into the room immediately.

"Will you keep it down?? Everyone's trying to get…their……rest…" she felt her cheeks warm. Sprawled on the floor was a half naked blonde helmsman, also known as Bart. She turned away, hoping that he did not catch her blushing as he picked himself up from the ground & collected the spilled contents of a "stolen" first-aid box. 

"Ah… I'm so sorry," he apologized quickly. Bart glanced around the room & quickly pulled on a white shirt. "I didn't mean to be so noisy this time of the night, heehee…"

That was strange. What was the guy who did nothing much in the battle doing with a first-aid kit? Unless…

She turned around & gasped. Cuts, bruises & burn wounds crossed paths on the helmsman's arms, the still-healing bruises provided multiple shades of purple & red. He stared at her, brows creased in worry.

"Are…are you okay? I did something wrong again didn't I?" he looked sheepish. In the confines of his quarters, there isn't a need to be the smartass anymore. A rule he had always stuck to no matter the situation or company within the four walls.

"No! I mean, you didn't do anything wrong this time…" _'although the opposite could be said about all the other times'_  she caught herself just in time. Feeling guilty, she quickly diverted the topic with an oh-so-eloquent stutter, "How…?"

"'How' what?" the blonde followed her line of sight & looked down at his arm. "Oh, these. Don't worry about it. They'll be fine…if I could just get the bandage to stay still," he gritted his teeth as he sat back down at the edge of his bunk, fumbling about the box. She watched on with a newfound respect for the cowardly guy. Some of those wounds looked serious & yet he didn't go whine about it to Duero, like what she imagined he would do. Not that she knew about the existence of the injury anyways. Until now…

"The hits fired at Nirvana's hull will reflected itself upon me & sometimes that hurts like a bitch but seeing you guys battle it out there, I feel like I've gotten the easy job. All I have to do is run away," And he did a wonderful job, even if she is never gonna admit it. Everyone onboard was safe & day-to-day, he went about playing the goofy timid man everyone thought he is, not letting on about his wounds. No wonder he had those long sleeves uniform on all the time.

"Here, let me help you with that," she took the liberty & sat on the other side of the bunk, pulling out some gauzes & antiseptic. Meticulously, she dabbed the cuts as gently as she can, all the way up till his tensed shoulders. She hesitantly pointed to his back. "You might wanna get those cleaned up too," he nodded & pulled off the shirt. Once again, this man surprised her. Instead of the scrawny body she had expected to see, toned muscles with a fading tan greeted her. Trying her best not to ogle in fascination, she repeated her wound dressing techniques. "That should do it," she replaced the remaining antiseptic & gauze back into the box & stood up. He reached over & grabbed her wrist.

"…If you don't mind, please don't let anyone else know about this," he asked pleadingly. "Not that anyone would've cared about what happened to me but I just don't want them to think of me as weak," Pride is still a dominant trait amongst men. She gave a curt nod & replaced her mask, struggling to not think so highly of the man they had always overlooked…and failing. 

"Thank you, Barnette Orangello," he replied solemnly as he released his grip. She beat a speedy retreat back to her own quarters & turned on her datapad, a habit Jura forced upon her. 

_==And so, who would have known… that a midnight stroll could be so rewarding, enlightening even. We had all overlooked the person who kept the ship moving, taking him for granted. Of course, he didn't portray the best image but we had all judged him too soon. All of us make mistakes, one time or another & thanks to him, I'm gonna stop & take some time out to truly get to know everyone.==_

End!

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Disclaimers: I don't own anything…

I hope that didn't make you guys lose your lunch/dinner coz it sure made mine almost see the light of the day again. Lol… I was just watching Vandread The Movie & got this sudden urge to write about Bart and someone totally unexpected. I know it's short (857 words on Microsoft Word's word count to be exact) but it's 1.45 in the morning. The brain's not functioning too well without caffeine or any other artificial stimulants. 

Apologies to anyone who thought this was totally unoriginal, OOC or just plain rotten.

Was that any good? Read & review!

^_~


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